Farnborough Airshow: Branson's Virgin Galactic 'spaceship' in UK debut

The Telegraph ^ | 7/11/2012 | Graham Ruddick

[bruinbirdman]

Sir Richard Branson says 529 people have put down deposits to travel into space with Virgin Galactic as the company unveiled its aircraft in the UK for the first time.

Speaking at the Farnborough Airshow, Sir Richard said Virgin Galactic wants to “revolutionise the way we get to space” and that he and his children will be the first passengers when the space tourism programme begins.

The rockets on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo have been qualified for powered flight and could conduct test runs before the end of the year.

The first paying passengers are likely to be flown into space in 2014.

A total of 529 people - more than the number of humans who have ever travelled to space - have put their names down for the $200,000 (£130,000) trips, which will last for around two hours and travel 60 miles high.

Virgin Galactic is now also planning to launch satellites into space by 2016 using an aircraft called LauncherOne.

"I'm immensely proud of what we have already achieved as we draw near to regular suborbital flights on SpaceShipTwo," Sir Richard said.

“Now, LauncherOne is bringing the price of satellite launch into the realm of affordability for innovators everywhere, from start-ups and schools to established companies and national space agencies.

"It will be a critical new tool for the global research community, enabling us all to learn about our home planet more quickly and affordably."

LancherOne will cost $10m for companies to launch their satellites into space and Virgin Galactic said four businesses have put down deposits to use the vehicle. These include Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining venture backed by film director James Cameron and Google chairman Eric Schmidt.

Passenger flights will work through a carrier craft, called WhiteKnightTwo, launching SpaceShipTwo into a suborbital flight

[mazda77]

From that creative one, Burt Rutan.

[knarf]

Probably the last remaining AMERICAN inovator/inventor/builder actually building something great and amazing ... something worthy of a place in the annuls of "Great American"

Here he is in 1972

I discovered Bert Rutan somewhere around 1986 while waiting for my wife in her GYNO's office, avidly reading the first copy of a magazine I ever knew existed about an industry that catered to 'grown up' (??) modelers .. KITPLANES

Family life kept me from building my own plane (I wanted to build RANS "PURSUIT", but it had too many flaws), settled on RANS "AIRAILLE", but ... well ...

Now I'm too old and fallen apart to pass a medical.

I still dream ...

a LOT.